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Multigenerational Household Needs

In today’s day and age, there seem to be unique needs that have slowly arisen in households. There are many multigenerational families that are living in one home. Whether it is older parents moving in with adult children or adult children moving in with their parents, there is a need for a certain type of housing option. Is that type of housing option available today? “Construction Dive” has considered the answer to this question and answered it in the article Moving up: How builders can address the needs of multigenerational households. They look at what the reasons are for the change, the needs these multigenerational households have, and what builders are doing about it.

So why have these needs arisen? Construction Dive says that “elderly parents moving in with their adult children once drove the trend. Today, however, young adults moving back in with their parents, or how not yet have left home, are the leading factor”. They bring out that they are expecting this trend to grow because recently “44% of baby boomers reported that they were looking to accommodate their parents in their next home and 42% expected to lodge their adult children”. They bring out that many adult kids don’t want to put their aging parents in a nursing home and therefore have them come to live with them. Construction Dive also brought out that for the adults who are moving in with their parents are doing so because either they can’t make it on their own after college or because they want their parents to watch their kids.

What are the present needs then? “Chris Porter, vice president and chief demographer for John Burns Real Estate Consulting, said…the minimum needed is a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor but now people want more, like a walk-off area, independent living space and a kitchenette.” This constitutes as a different floor plan than what the housing market is used to. They bring out the not every family will look for a kitchenette for older parents moving in with their adult children because of not being able to cook as much with advancing age. These are some of the basic needs that multigeneration families are looking for in the housing market today.

What are home builders doing to meet these new and upcoming needs? Construction Dive brought out a couple of different options to fulfill these needs such as incorporating these needs by allowing the owner to decide what space they are willing to give up to accommodate these options. It is easier for home builders to accommodate where they build bigger homes or have bigger lots to be able to add what a multigeneration family needs. This is the case with most large builders.

With this trend coming up and only predicted to continue to rise, many builders are trying to understand the needs of multigenerational households and create new floor plans with a mix of private and shared spaces. Builders are also “taking the time to understand the economic and cultural factors driving the trend to meet the needs of future multigenerational households”. Prime Custom Builders is one of the builders who offer homes that are suitable for multigenerational households. We understand the growing need and demand for them. Be sure to check sure out the homes we have available!

By Prime Custom Builders 6-20-2017